England's women suffer reversal

England suffered a set-back in their preparations as Australia outmuscled them in a high-scoring warm-up at Taunton. Batting first, Australia amassed 141 for 5 with Leah Poulton top-scoring with 66 from 49 balls. In reply, England lost both openers for a combined total of one run, although Claire Taylor started aggressively with 42 from 25 balls. Ellyse Perry and Lisa Sthalekar both claimed three wickets, however, and at 92 for 9 the game was as good as over. Katherine Brunt and Caroline Atkins refused to give up, however, adding 45 unbeaten runs for the tenth wicket, but 18 off the final over proved out of reach. "It was a perfect warm-up game for us to play - against one of the best sides in the world," said coach Mark Lane. "I'm a little bit disappointed with our performance in some of our key areas, particularly with our ground fielding and the performance of our middle order. However there were also some solid performances from Claire, Caroline and Katherine."

Stacy-Ann King transformed West Indies' fortunes with a hard-hitting 48 from 25 balls, as Sri Lanka were condemned to a 40-run defeat at Taunton despite at one stage reducing their opponents to 51 for 7. King clobbered four fours and three sixes in a 27-ball stand of 54 for the eighth wicket with Deandra Dottin, and a shell-shocked Sri Lanka couldn't respond. Chasing 122, they meandered to 81 for 8 in their 20 overs.

New Zealand recovered from a top-order wobble to post a competitive 123 for 5, before inflicting an even more dramatic collapse on India at Taunton Vale. New Zealand's captain, Aimee Watkins, cracked 60 not out from 51 balls to rescue her side from 31 for 3, before India crashed to 68 for 9 in reply. The wickets were shared around, with all six bowlers claiming at least one scalp. Priyanka Roy and Babita Mandlik saved some face with a tenth-wicket stand of 38 which was only ended by the final ball of the innings.

Trisha Chetty anchored the innings with 45 from 40 balls, as South Africa coasted past Pakistan by 36 runs at King's College. Chetty's effort, couple with 29 from Cri-zelda Brits and 24 from Susan Benade, carried their side to 126 for 7. Pakistan in reply slumped to 90 all out in 17.1 overs. They started brightly enough, with an opening stand of 43, but the spin of Sunette Loubser made the breach when Nain Abidi was stumped for 23, and the wickets tumbled.